Hamm struggles in first meet in 4 years

LAS VEGAS — He used to be the world's best gymnast.

Right now, Paul Hamm is nothing more than a guy with a dream of making the Olympics — and a lot of work to do to get there.

In his first gymnastics meet in four years, the 2004 all-around Olympic champion fell off the pommel horse early, landed hard on the floor exercise late and mixed in more wobbles and bobbles than he usually throws out there in a year.

Performing in four of six events Thursday at the Winter Cup Challenge, the 29-year-old from Wisconsin only scored higher than 13.9 on one of them — a frustrating day for an athlete not used to giving performances like this in public.

"This has been one of my weaker performances of my career," Hamm said. "It's disappointing for sure. I'm not happy. I just have to be constructive here. It's all I can really do."

Granted, this event is viewed by almost everyone in gymnastics as a warm-up for the more important stuff to come on the road to London. And Hamm has only been training for eight months since tearing up his right shoulder — injuries that have ended many a career in this sport.

Still, after a day that fell well below his own lowered expectations, the man who used to define excellence finds himself in positions that were once unthinkable:

—Instead of leaving the gym locked into one of the top 42 spots in Saturday's final, he had to sweat out a night session before knowing if he'd make the cut.

—Instead of positioning himself for a gimme spot on the 15-person national team to be named at the end of the weekend, he was very much on the bubble for that. Not making that team won't necessarily eliminate him from contention for the Olympics, but it would deprive him of chances to compete for the U.S. in international events.

"I'm a little bit worried about that," Hamm said. "I really want to get on the national team. Things didn't go the way I wanted today. I guess I just have to take it for what it is."

Save his high-flying vault — where he scored a 15.4 for his roundoff into a front flip with a full twist — this was not a pretty day.